Most agents use social media incorrectly

A large part of a real estate agent’s job is to keep in touch with clients. The best real estate agents I have seen in my 40 years of experience do a fabulous job at this. With the growth of technology, social media is a great tool that allows agents to engage with clients. However, most agents are using it incorrectly in their strategy. They don’t understand why people use social media. Let me show you what they’re doing wrong and how you can improve to boost your earnings.

Most real estate agents don’t know why they’re on social media! They believe that it is a big microphone where they scream at their clients to get attention for their business. These agents constantly post content to try and show how much they know about the industry. If this is what you are doing, you must stop using social media immediately.

Now, you’re probably thinking, how could this be? Why isn’t posting and sharing content our main priority on social media? This is because the key to using social media is to engage with your clients. Most agents are doing the total opposite. I am not saying that posting isn’t important but what you should focus on is responding to clients. As you build your network on social media, you will need to spend more time engaging.

Think of social media as a big networking party. No one wants to talk to the person who is constantly ranting and raving about how great they are. Instead, you gravitate towards someone who is genuinely interested in what’s going on in your life. On social media you must engage your clients the same way. You should like their photos, comment on their posts and try to engage in conversation with them. For example, if you see your client post a picture of their son’s basketball game, you can comment and ask what the score was. These small touch-points add up and it will help you grow your relationships with clients.

Every time someone comments, likes or shares your post it releases dopamine. This is the chemical in your brain that makes you happy, like when you sell a listing! Engaging with the clients and making them happy is important. Now that I have explained all of this, let’s revisit our original question. Why are we on social media? The answer is we want to stay top of mind with our clients.

The key to having a long-term, great career is to create and maintain a client database. Within that database, every client knows about three to five people who are going to buy and sell real estate. Are these people thinking of you when they are buying or selling real estate? If not, you will be losing a ton of business and they will go with another agent. Staying top of mind keeps you relevant and gives you the opportunity to get referrals.

Now that you understand social media, you need to develop a plan on how to use it. What works for me is I set up four sessions in the day when I check my social media. Every session consists of 10 minutes where I engage with clients. I focus my efforts on using just two social media platforms. This allows me to achieve my goals of interacting with clients while not spending too much time online. The platforms that work best for agents are Facebook and Instagram. If you are just starting to use social media now, begin with these two.

The real estate industry is about keeping in touch and staying top of mind. Use the tactics that I have shown you and you will see a difference in your returns. Social media is a complex tool, but in the technology age you must adapt, or you will be left behind.

Alex Pilarski was introduced to the world of real estate in 1972. In 1985, he co-founded Re/Max Realtron with his brother Richard. Together they have been awarded many top honours within the Re/Max system, including No. 1 Re/Max in the world in 2012 (most transactions), International Broker/Owners of the Year and the Prestigious Distinguished Service Award. He is also a certified mentor with Buffini and Company and Richard Robbins International. Send him an email or phone 905-944-8800 x302.

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2 COMMENTS

Interesting perception but from experience, there is much more that agents are doing wrong on Facebook. One is they lack is concrete Facebook business page. Good information but would like to see others expand on the topic.

I tapped your red DISQUS name at your post to see what market area you serve. Aside from the landing page, where the big blue CB logo is – foreigners would not know where Hearthside is, I went then to your bio, such that always is of interest to me, regarding networking and always in nearly four decades I made a concerted effort to try to match personalities with good stability for my travelling to a new place client referral.

I want to say your site at your dot com is without question one of the best and most user-friendly in the industry, aside from your great testimonials.

I am on medical leave in recent times due to a major family cancer situation so I elected to put my licence on hold (in Canada we spell licence as a noun, not license, typically). But if I were doing referrals, I would not hesitate to send your way.